Chapter 4.1 Up

Chapter 4.1 is up and running. I had hoped on pushing a new map with it, but it didn’t quite happen. Come play, have fun: www.actofwar.com port 4000. There will be a number of implementations as I finish up a few exciting changes over the next week. Stay tuned!

AoW 4.0 – Last Stand – Alpha Testing

After a number of setbacks and delays we will be opening Ch4 to alpha testing on Friday, March 21st, 2014. The alpha port will be up on a separate port – so if things get slow on the alpha port you’re welcome to hop on and play the regular port. It should be noted that […]

Return to War and Christmas Promotions!

Doing a reboot this afternoon. In today’s build: the return of Christmas item drops during PK. Additionally, it is Christmas, and as a gift to you, you’ll be able to open your presents (once you hit 56). Get more warpoints to open more neat stuff. Finally – I miss seeing everyone online. All existing characters […]

New Chapter – Up And Running!

Welcome! I made a pretty poor call with the Ch1.5 and have since killed it. I’m working with a handful of dedicated AoWers on putting some serious polish, balance, and work into the Ch4. We’re looking to resolve the bugs, flesh out the skills/spells, get it all documented in the wiki here, and finish up […]

1/6/2013 – Chapter 4 Launch Information

Things are changing with the introduction of Chapter 4. Some things are staying the same. I wanted to take a moment to give a quick rundown of things that might be different right off the bat – and might really make you wonder what is going on. We really stripped the map of a lot […]

Story:
The Mother Matron’s monsters have boarded giant black ships, and the corsairs have crossed the sea and landed near Shinarendretta. They intend on sacking the city, defiling the ancient magic, and taking the resources back for the mother. The mystical capital of the West stands lightly defended against the horde – will Shinarendretta’s previous colony, Tier, come to her defense? Will the stalwart warriors of Kael rise up, ready to challenge the minions of Evil and defend the ancient magic empire?

Features:

A map expansion on the current Shinarendretta. Each kingdom has a “starting city” and a seeded area outside of it.

A complete revamp of how kingdoms work. The Shinarendrettan continent is player controlled. Outside the “landing camps”, the rest of the land may be claimed by the players. Kingdom borders will shift and players fight to push the other kingdoms out of the land. Struggle to exploit the natural resources and build a keep of your own, or torch an opponent’s keep and raid it’s storehouse.

Use your kingdom to craft new and impressive equipment.

Become the savior, or defiler, of Shinarendretta

A “help” guide will be released later this week, but essentially as a player you’ll be able to capture land, improve the land as you see fit to generate the resources you need to improve your holdings across the sea. You’ll be able to battle opponents, pillage their lands, steal their resources, and in the end, either save – or destroy – Shinarendretta. Each encampment, keep, and structure built (and held) by the players aids their kingdom in final points.

Rewards: Anything earned during the campaign, to include random drop items, crafted items, and gold. All players who participate will unlock the “Defender” or “Defiler” title at the conclusion of the war – because who wants to be a baron?
The top contributing player will have a permanent statue erected in Shinarendretta in their honor.
If Shinarendretta is saved from destruction (Tier and Kael victory), Tier & Kael will generate 25% more warbucks and experience for the first two weeks of February, 2017.
If Shinarendretta is sacked by Undermountain (UM victory), UM will generate 25% more warbucks and experience for the first two weeks of February, 2017.

After a number of setbacks and delays we will be opening Ch4 to alpha testing on Friday, March 21st, 2014. The alpha port will be up on a separate port – so if things get slow on the alpha port you’re welcome to hop on and play the regular port. It should be noted that the alpha phases are going to be pretty limited – but each alpha test will run around a week in length – but each will focus on specific things that we need to test in order to finish, and release, Ch4.

Timeline:Week 1 : 21 – 27 March
A small “alpha” map will be opened up. The map is small, but each kingdom will have it’s own home. Raiding is not the focus and attempting to raid will likely result in you winding up dead. Instead, it’s designed to test the classes, the skills, and mechanics in an open playing field. As an administration we want to get your feedback on what feels right – and what we’re doing terribly. Focused testing groups will take place at announced time to test leveling from beginning to level 20.

Week 2 : 28 – 3 April
The actual cities will be linked in to the alpha map. The focus here will be raiding, and raid mechanics. What feels right, what feels wrong. What needs to be added to the fray to encourage a challenging experience that will take 5-6 players. Again, we’ll be looking at class balance and skills – but the focus will be in a slightly different area. There will also be focused testing groups taking place at announced times to test leveling from level 20 -40.

Week 3 : 4 – 10 April
Main testing focus to be announced. There will be focued groups taking place at announced times to test leveling from 40-50.

Week 4 : 11 – 17 April
Main testing focus to be announced. There will again be focused testing groups taking place at announced times to test “endgame” equipment gathering.

The tentative beta “Go live” with full map and initial class release is set for 18 April 2014.

FAQ

1) Will my characters transfer from the alpha to the beta? Or on to the live game?
a) No. In fact, there will likely be multiple wipes during the alpha. This should slow down during beta and it’s undecided right now whether or not your beta characters will simply transition into the live game or not.

2) Why do you need to wipe the characters so often?
a) We’re testing balance – and a part of that is the individual characters. Do they end up with too many hitpoints? Do they have too much mana? These things need to be assessed, balanced, and in turn, reset. Worry not – the leveling will be for the most part automated so you’re testing what we want you to test, not wasting time leveling.

3) So what exactly do I get for helping you test the game?
a) The pride in knowing your advice helped develop the actual end product for the most part. As mentioned, it’s undecided now whether or not you’ll keep your beta characters when we transition into the live environment – but if you can, there’s a step up, too. Finally, the knowledge you’ll gain regarding class/racial balances and the map will help you when the game is released.

Reddit promotion was disabled. If you’d like to be a part of a future promotion please contact a staff member.

The “Present” command was re-enabled for Christmas. A gift from the staff to you. For every 25 warpoints you have you’ll be able to claim one present. Every 50+ character gets one present automatically.

Items

Rewrote the holiday drop code. You’ll see drops more frequently.

PvP/PK

Christmas drops have returned for the season. They’ll drop off of enemy players in PK.

Doing a reboot this afternoon. In today’s build: the return of Christmas item drops during PK. Additionally, it is Christmas, and as a gift to you, you’ll be able to open your presents (once you hit 56). Get more warpoints to open more neat stuff.

Finally – I miss seeing everyone online. All existing characters who log in this week will be automatically credited 5000 warbucks to help pick up a few pieces of iteration gear and get back into the fight.

Signs were implemented outside of kingdom borders to help new players realize when they’re going to enter into a dangerous situation. Additionally, the sector type for ALL border guards was changed from it’s default to something more noticable. Finally, the archers that pepper you from inside each of the towns now provide a more noticable message.

Bug Fixes

A number of guilds were patched up.

A number of typographical issues were resolved.

Implemented a number of default spell messages that were previously missing.

Titles show up on the who list again.

Class Balance

n/a

System Changes

Inclusion of a promotion system. Current promotion is effective for players coming in from Reddit. Existing players should not use the promotion code for incoming players from Reddit.

Newbie flags were added to the game. The flag can be toggled on/off using the “newbie” command. This will add a flag to who, look, farsight, and eagle eye. It helps identify players who might not have experience on Act of War so your fellow kingdom-mates can help you get equipment and orientated to the map.

NOWEAP has been implemented and is now displayed in the “auto” menu. It will toggle off weapon damage messages.

Scrolls will now default your target, instead of yourself, if you have a target. If you do not have a target the spell will still burn but without a target.

With fine tuning the code to where we’re at right now the “present” code has been removed. It will return frequently and will always bank off of the same statistics, so if you cashed in now you won’t be able to cash in for those same items later.

I made a pretty poor call with the Ch1.5 and have since killed it. I’m working with a handful of dedicated AoWers on putting some serious polish, balance, and work into the Ch4. We’re looking to resolve the bugs, flesh out the skills/spells, get it all documented in the wiki here, and finish up a completely new map. I want to make sure you guys retain an enjoyable code base that you ENJOY.

As such, the code base from before 4 is back. It’s a late 3.x early 4.0 code base prior to race/class changes.

All new players receive a stag-crested breastplate and shield to help push along the leveling a bit.

If you’re looking to build drop me a note. I’d be grateful to receive a little more help if anyone is interested.

All previous threads on the forum were moved to a storage forum. They’re still on the main forums, just scroll down. We had amassed a good chunk of junk over the last year or so and I felt like it was a good time to clean up some.